Pastors Worldwide Pledge Not to 'Short Circuit' Sermons

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Wed Nov 07, 2007 7:45 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 0

Off the topic of prosperity preachers and onto the topic of using others' sermons as their own... I certainly agree that a pastor should get his principal material from the Bible, and as wbmoore commented about a pastor he knows, "when he felt the least prepared but had been in prayer and reading the word is when his sermons were the best." However, as long as a pastor clearly understands the concept of plagiarism and crediting his work, I personally think it is good for small-time pastors to get inspiration and ideas from other pastors. I don’t think we should expect every little pastor to be able to preach really great and inspiring sermons all on their own all the time, and if people want to hear a great sermon, they shouldn’t have to go to a bigger church where the pastor is a more compelling preacher and that’s why he’s got a bigger church. The choice shouldn’t have to be “better sermon, but bigger, less personal church” versus “warm, cozy little church, but not so great preaching”. I think that if we’ve got the technology, we should use it. I think God has permitted the advancements in technology for Christians to use to be more effective in the world, and I think this kind of situation would be included in that…unless we all want to stay frozen in the past like the Amish. They felt that certain technological advances were going to take them away from God, so they just stayed the way they were, though I don't get how slaving away churning their own butter makes them any closer to God. (OK, well, maybe I do: hard, mindless work gives you lots of time to think about Him, and they don’t have much else to think about, but I digress.) I DO think it’s a great idea for pastors to sign an agreement and for the website to put admonitions up concerning plagiarism and presumably “spiritual plagiarism” (which might not be against man’s laws but would be against God’s laws). The job of a pastor is an extremely difficult one, and I think we expect our “little” pastors to be everything when maybe they’re not particularly gifted every way, and they shouldn’t just NOT be in the ministry if they’re not a particularly good preacher. I don’t think that should be the defining quality of a pastor. However, I do like to hear a good sermon, and I don’t care where the pastor gets his inspiration, as long as he credits it properly.

Uplifting Movie 'Bella' Praised for Pro-Family Messages

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Sat Oct 27, 2007 3:04 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

At least somebody's doing something positive for the name of Christianity. We won't all agree, but we need to stick together. A house divided against itself cannot stand. We need to know when to debate together over internal matters and when to say, "Amen! Hallelujah!" for a Christian doing something generally good for the world.

Kid Preachers Pulpit-Bound by Divine Inspiration, They Say

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Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:49 am Agree: 1   Disagree: 0

God forbid we should ever muzzle anyone whom He anoints. God spoke through a donkey (Balaam's), so why couldn't he speak through a child? Naturally a child wouldn't have the experience or maturity to necessarily deal with all kinds of situations in depth, such as counselling people about marital problems, but I think God could speak through a child, and I admire children who have that much conviction. Obviously some people could take advantage of it, and that's too bad, but I don't think people should automatically dismiss a child just because that happens sometimes. I think that's why the passage about Jesus preaching in the temple at age 12 was included in the Bible, because it really stuck out Jesus' disciples. They remembered it because it was so contrary to the traditional way of that time, and it released them from that kind of traditionalistic thinking.

If we always wait for every situation to be perfect before we bless it, we might as well give up and go home and never open our mouths. There is a lot in the Bible about God's ways not being like man's ways and God taking the weak and foolish to confound the "wise", and we need to trust the Lord that he could speak through whoever He wants...even us! Too many people are too reluctant to talk about their faith because they don't know everything about it. When people tell us about their problems, and we don't necessarily know everything or know exactly what to say, but we do our best, trusting the Lord to speak through us.

When people first come to faith in Christ, they are babes spiritually, and I think they should be encouraged to tell people about their experience, and even though they won't necessarily know much about what they could say, they can just talk about what they know. Every believer should talk about what they know, and if we don't have the answer to something, we should just say so, but we shouldn't just not talk until we know everything, and I think the same thing would apply to a child talking about faith.

I don't think child preaching should necessarily be encouraged, and the parents of such a child would have a big responsibility to try to keep their child grounded so that they don't get lifted up in pride, just like any other child prodigy, but I don't think it should necessarily be discouraged.

'Australian Idol' Stars Barred from God Talks

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Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:50 am Agree: 2   Disagree: 0

When Daniel Mifsud said, “I don't have any real religious affiliations," he was stating his religious beliefs to a certain extent. However, according to the rules, a Christian would not have been allowed to reveal their religious beliefs to that extent. The contestants seem to be free to say so if they don't have religious convictions, but they aren't free to say so if they do. I suppose we could infer that if somebody didn't say they DON'T have any religious convictions, that could mean they DO, but Christians aren't allowed to say anything about WHAT they believe or what God has done for them in their lives or how God has influenced their lives.

In response to what Prof. X said, I realize that there is something not right about the whole "Idol" phenomenon, but I think most of the kids who try out for it are just kids doing what they do and trying to test the waters in life to see where they can go with it. If some people make a bigger thing out of it than they should, that is their problem. Many of these kids are believers trying to go where they feel God is leading them according to the talents He has given them, and it would be nice if they could have been permitted to be more open about their faith. We need people of faith to be famous too, because they have a bigger audience than most, and people listen to them.